Zerin Kurtay-Rojda Serhat/JINHA

SHENGAL – Women pilots are ready to be the first pilots of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and to fight against Daesh gangs.

YJA Star fighters Leyla Nupelda and Arjin Serhat have undergone a long training period to fly the first planes ever used by the PKK. The PKK first started exploring using aircraft as part of the operation to liberate Shengal, the Êzidî city in the Federal Kurdistan Region assaulted by Daesh in August.

Leyla, who joined the ranks of YJA Star in 2013, took part in the corridor operation, in which Kurdish forces opened a corridor between Shengal and Rojava to evacuate Êzidî citizens from the area.

"After the massacre, Shengal women have been deeply affected psychologically," said Leyla. "I came here both to protect Shengal and to support the women here." She says their goal is to push Daesh out of Shengal and form a women's force in the city.

"Our goal is not just to fight with weapons; it's to raise the consciousness of the people here and especially women," Leyla said. Leyla participated in the exploratory trainings on the possibility of using air forces in the operation.

"When everything was ready, our comrades asked us, 'can you do it?'" recalled Leyla. "We wanted to be the PKK's first pilots, and we said 'women can do anything they want.' At this point we can say we are approaching becoming experts."

Arjin Serhat, who also joined the group in 2013, said "our victories will be revenge for the women of Shengal." She called attention to the fact that the people of the city were still living in tents nearly a year after the genocidal and femicidal attack and called for international solidarity with the Êzidî people.

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